I am looking for a nutritional analysis of cacao, including a fatty acid profile. Can anyone assist?
- There's lots of information, and lots of offline references, at the Cocoapro and the Chocolate Information Center websites. Haven't found a table of exactly what you seem to be asking, but it may be hidden in there somewhere. (Both sites are supported by the Mars Co.. -- Kbh3rd 1 July 2005 17:27 (UTC)
Doubts!
This Cacao article states as follows, "The tree grows naturally in the low foothills of the Andes at elevations of around 200-400 m in the Amazon and Orinoco river basins; it is believed to have been introduced to Central America by the Maya people."
Where does this claim come from? That the Mayas introduced cacao to Central America?
Is there a possibility that cacao was also native to Central America, thousands of years previous to the Mayan empire.
T. Cacao is definitely native to S. America, and migrated north via domestication and trade. However, saying that the Maya introduced it is incorrect, as there is definitive proof (archaeological and otherwise) that it was present at least as early as the Olmec period in the middle cone region. The very name Cacao, in fact, comes from the Mixe-Zoquean language group, predating the Maya.
Theobromine
This reads "Their most important active constituent is Theobromine, a compound somewhat similar to Caffeine." and the Theobromine article states that they are very different. Who is right? --Fs 11:54, 17 March 2006 (UTC)
- got to add, the caffeine article says that caffeine is metabolized to theobromine and if that's true, it can't make their discussion too separate. --Fs 11:57, 17 March 2006 (UTC)